Elliott Bay Open-Water Disposal Site

Under Washington law, the disposal of dredged materials from rivers, harbors, and shipping lanes in Puget Sound is managed and monitored by the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the US Environmental Projection Agency, and the Washington Department of Ecology. The DNR monitoring program is funded solely by disposal fees paid by dredging operators who use the open water disposal sites.

Today, we observed the Star Marine tug, Redwood City, escorting a bottom-dump hopper barge (or scow) depositing a load of dredged materials at the Elliott Bay disposal site. These scows are fitted with bottom opening doors and are designed specifically to deliver bulk material to open-water disposal sites. In the sequence shown below, the scow appears to break along its center-line as the materials are released at the Elliott Bay site.